This invention relates generally to the field of enclosed cooking devices known as ovens or smokers, and more particularly, to the field of such devices which incorporate electric heating elements. Even more particularly, the invention relates to such devices which utilize charcoal as the primary source of cooking heat.
The cooking of meat, especially in restaurant situations, is almost universally accomplished with either gas or electrical elements providing the source of heat--primarily because of convenience. This is in spite of the fact that it is widely accepted that, especially for certain types of cooking and for certain meats, cooking over a charcoal fire is much preferable in terms of taste. The vast majority of home barbequers have replaced their charcoal grills with either gas grills or grills using electrical heating elements--sacrificing taste for the fact that these grills do not require advance lighting nor monitoring of the heat supplying source. Cooking with charcoal requires lighting the charcoal briquets well in advance and continual concern over the air supply and compaction of the briquets to insure that the cooking temperature remains constant. These requirements all but preclude the use of charcoal for cooking in most commercial settings.
The typical large oven or smoker utilizes one or more electric cooking elements connected to a thermostat to monitor cooking temperature. The desired cooking temperature inside the oven is attained by turning on the cooking elements and running them continually or cycling them with the thermostat. Even in ovens or smokers which incorporate the burning of wood chips or the like to improve on the flavor of the meat, the cooking is done entirely by the electric elements with the wood chips added solely to provide a flavor-imparting smoke.
It is an object of this invention to provide an oven suitable for commercial use in which the cooking heat is supplied by charcoal briquets rather than gas or electric heating elements. It is a further object to provide such an oven adapted such that the charcoal is ignited by electric or gas ignition means and further that the burning of the charcoal is maintained at a relatively constant level through thermostatically controlled cycling of the ignition means to reignite the charcoal when the internal temperature of the oven drops below a preset value.